Meme Scholar with Madness (PhD)

[EndtheMadnessNow]

Ok, half of today's post is dedicated to Bally and anyone else here residing in the land down under. Ya'll sure do have spectacular natural beauty! Wow, this place is definitely on my bucket list!

Corindi Beach, New South Wales, Australia

Corindi Beach, pronounced Cor-in-"dye" although Cor-in-"dee" is sometimes used, historically also known as Pipeclay Beach until a name change in 1954, Corinda until a forced change to be provided postal service to avoid confusion or by Red Bank as Corindi River was formerly known, is a beach and small seaside farming town located on the Mid North Coast of New South Wales, Australia.

Corindi is surrounded by the Tasman Sea to the east and the Pacific Highway to the west. The 30° south latitude line runs just north of Corindi Beach.

At the 2021 census, Corindi Beach had a population of 1,802. It is the site of the Yarrawarra Aboriginal Cultural Centre which provides information on the Gumbayngirr Aboriginal people's history and customs. Corindi and surrounds has become a major blueberry producer, with many locals and tourists working during the peak seasons picking fruit.

Corindi has a strong Aboriginal culture, celebrated through the Aboriginal local community and the Aboriginal cultural centre. The place is known to local Gumbaynggirr people as Blood Rock and many members of the tribe's descendants now avoid the area as a consequence.

Gumbaynggir land for at least 30,000 years, possibly 120,000 years, based on recent research.

Corindi Beach, New South Wales

Of course beauty has its dark side down under...

The redback spider (Latrodectus hasselti), also known as the Australian black widow, is a species of highly venomous spider believed to originate in Australia but now, Southeast Asia and New Zealand, it has also been found in packing crates in the United States with colonies elsewhere outside Australia.

The redback spider has been historically responsible for more envenomations requiring antivenom than any other creature in Australia. However, by 2017 the spider was blamed for only 250 envenomations requiring antivenom annually. Estimates of the number of people thought to be bitten by redback spiders each year across Australia range from 2,000 to 10,000.

Indigenous Australians in New South Wales mixed the spiders' bodies with the venom of snakes and pine tree gum to form a broth used to coat spear tips.
Redback spider

Just reading the wiki page on that spider made the hair on the back of my neck stand up. Although, the wiki said fatal bites are eXtremely rare...But not zero! OK, Bally, if I come across any of these Aussie Black Widows in my parts I'm going to ship them back to you. LOL. Or maybe I'll ship them to Ninurta for his Boar spear.


Oh, here we go... Matilda Bay Brewing Company produces a wheat beer called Redback, with the distinctive red stripe as the logo.


"Hoppy Flavors Fit Company for Food" (23 August 1988)

Would the real first Matilda Bay beer please stand up?

Red Rock is a small hamlet in the northern beaches of the Coffs Harbour coast beside the banks of the Corindi River on the Mid North Coast of New South Wales, Australia, and is surrounded by National Parks. It is in the City of Coffs Harbour local government area. At the 2016 census, Red Rock had a population of 303 people.

The headland is the site of a massacre of the Gumbaynngir indigenous people in the mid 19th century. A memorial has been erected at the base of the headland to honour the victims and survivors of the massacre. The massacre began at Blackadders Creek when mounted police entered the camp. They started shooting and then pursued the survivors to the Corindi River where they continued shooting. Some people were then driven off the headland. The headland may have been named Red Rock because the river went red from the blood of the indigenous people.

Red Rock, New South Wales

Red Rock, small coastal village- NSW Australia | Stunning 4K Footage
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0nyzx_A1oh0

Arrawarra Beach NSW Australia in 4K
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0U3FRCLQnc

At the southern end I found the London Bridge at the coastal town of Port Campbell in Victoria, Australia. The town is on the Great Ocean Road, west of the Twelve Apostles, in the Shire of Corangamite.


The Twelve Apostles reminds me of sections on the Oregon Coast.
The natural bridge span closer to the shoreline sparked comparisons with the nursery rhyme of the same name ("London Bridge Is Falling Down") and collapsed unexpectedly on 15 January 1990, leaving two tourists stranded on the outer span before they were rescued by police helicopter. No one was injured in the event.

The Canberra Times (17 Jan 1990)


From the Gold Coast, about 8200 miles to the east...

Dec 23, 2024: Two Pyroclastic Flows Caught on Camera at Santa Maria Volcano (Santiaguito), Guatemala. The camera is about 8km away from Santa Maria / Santiaguito. At about the 3:00 min mark you'll see camera shake of what appears to be a small earthquake tremor. Spectacular footage!



Location: Western Guatemala, near the city of Quetzaltenango
Elevation: Santa María - 3,772 meters (12,375 feet); Santiaguito dome complex - about 2,500 meters (8,200 feet)
Type: Stratovolcano with an active lava dome complex
Activity: Frequent and continuous dome-building eruptions.


December 26, 1874: Boxing Day became an official Bank Holiday in England, Wales and Ireland, but not in Scotland until 1974. The name originated from the custom of Lords giving servants and tenants Christmas boxes. Boxing Day occurs on the same day as Catholic St Stephen's Day.

It originated in the United Kingdom and is celebrated in several Commonwealth nations. The attached bank holiday or public holiday may take place on 27 or 28 December if necessary to ensure it falls on a weekday; but of course. There are competing theories for the origins of the term, none of which is definitive.

The Oxford English Dictionary gives the earliest attestation from Britain in 1743, defining it as "the day after Christmas day", and saying "traditionally on this day tradespeople, employees, etc., would receive presents or gratuities (a "Christmas box") from their customers or employers."

The term "Christmas box" dates back to the 17th century, and among other things meant:

    A present or gratuity given at Christmas: In Great Britain, usually confined to gratuities given to those who are supposed to have a vague claim upon the donor for services rendered to him as one of the general public by whom they are employed and paid, or as a customer of their legal employer; the undefined theory being that as they have done offices for this person, for which he has not directly paid them, some direct acknowledgement is becoming at Christmas.

In Australia, Boxing Day is a public holiday in all jurisdictions except the state of South Australia.

Boxing Day

Here in America, Boxing Day means (at least for the man) avoid any and all big box stores like Walmart unless you enjoy being in close proximity to wackos, psychos, karens, meth head zombies, extreme frustration, fighting, yelling, screaming irate children, stress inducing ulcers, long lines that'll make you wish you didn't skip lunch to return that $9.99 gift and scenes you thought only happened in the movies. Happy Boxing Day my arse. Just stay home till after New Years.

Yes, Down Under I'd be on beach today with my mates.


https://x.com/7NewsBrisbane/status/1872199919521734864



USA #1 on this day in 1968: Marvin Gaye - I Heard It Through The Grapevine




December 26, 1975: Jaws directed by Steven Spielberg finally arrives to terrorize the UK. It had been released in USA on June 20, 1975.




December 26, 1982: A computer became the 1st non-human to win the Time magazine Person of the Year. The award in 1982 was recognition of the dawning awareness of the computer as a force in modern life. The 2nd non-human recipient of the Time award was the planet Earth in 1988.




R.I.P. Pearl Harbor survivor Warren "Red" Upton who passed away on Christmas Day at the age of 105. Upton was a radioman aboard USS Utah when the battleship was hit by torpedoes on 7 December 1941. As the Utah began to roll over, he abandoned ship and swam to Ford Island, towing a shipmate who did not know how to swim. Her rusting hulk remains in Pearl Harbor, partially above water; the sailors killed when Utah sank were never removed from the wreck, and as such, she is a war grave.

Upton, however, told The Mercury News that he had no plans to inter his cremated remains in the sunken hull of the Utah, an honor available to the crew members who survived the sinking.

“I got off there once,” he told the newspaper. “I’m not going back.”


Last survivor of USS Utah, sunk during Pearl Harbor attack, dies at age 105